Clinton Still Not Clear On Stance On Health Care

5 Responses to “Clinton Still Not Clear On Stance On Health Care”

1. CLINTON WINS BIG on February 6th, 2008 8:30 am

   CLINTON WINS BIG ANOTHER UPSET FOR OBAMA AND MEDIA!
   Barack Obama might have captured 3-more states on Super Tuesday, but Clinton leads the delegate count. Obama speech on super Tuesday appears to be addressing black voters only, guess Uncle teddy didn’t help? If you are still undecided today then here’s a thought: If you want REAL change and we all do, you have to have a change agent that knows the system and has the contacts to create that change. Democratic nominee will be attacked by the Republican Party and, more importantly slimy political world that surrounds the GOP. These ‘independent’ organizations have a sole purpose: to attack relentlessly, in the most vicious possible ways. Who is best equipped to handle the vicious, continuous attacks that the other side will launch? who could best stand up and fight? Hillary Clinton has, as she has said, taken this incoming fire for 15 years or more. She’s been unfairly attacked by mainstream media and men who fear a strong intelligent woman like Ted Kennedy. Shes been accused of everything thing the media and obama camp can think of and yet she’s still the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. She’s proven after super Tuesday shes tougher than boot leather while having a human side. Those are assets that our candidate needs. Hillary Clinton has developed thick skin and the ability to remain calm in campaign combat. Yet, also knows how to listen to the American people. Qualifications? She’s a successful, liberal US Senator. won a Senate election that by fighting back and campaigning in the non-traditional places in NY. She went to conservative, Republican based northern rural areas and won them over with smart policies, substantive talk and the fact she simply listened! In that most unlikely of places, she won with 67% of the vote. 2006 she won re-election. We are convinced Hillary is strong where others, including Barack Obama, would be weak and inexperienced. She will fight the filth machine of the other side with vigor and calmness. She knows how to outmaneuver them. She’s a warrior. It’s a term seldom applied to women. Yet being a warrior is what she’s been from her Watergate committee staffing experience, through several terms as the First Lady of Arkansas, working on multiple corporate boards fighting for equal rights for minorities, middle class workers and women and during her years as First Lady of the US traveling the world. She learned first hand in those travels the foreign issues and realities. Hillary Clinton has made the personal contacts that are will be so valuable in the White House. She has consistently fought for the underdog and the American people. She was a warrior without anyone using the term.
   Hillary Clinton knows how to form coalitions on Capitial Hill to get the job done! She has, that ‘bad’ word this election cycle, ‘experience’. JFK, perhaps one of the most inspirational speakers in his day, had 8 years US Senate experience and had taken a run at the Vice Presidency in 1956. He knew government from the inside. JFK was not an outsider condemning the system and all those in it as Obama camp would like you to believe. If you want change in government you first have to learn how to operate from the inside to get the laws and policies changed. We learned this time and time again from JFK to Bill Clinton.

2. Martin Adams on February 6th, 2008 8:54 am

   Essay on Health and Healthcare

   The national institutes of heath reports that 67% of American adults are overweight and 34% are obese, 22% still smoke, about 8% use illicit drugs, 50% use alcohol and about 24% engage in heavy or ‘binge’ drinking.

   I have family members who are obese and smoke. They are intelligent and they understand the probable long-term health consequences of their poor health choices. They also claim that they want to correct these behaviors, but they do not have the personal motivation and personal discipline to make the change, or they believe it is not possible for them to accomplish.

   I am now 66. I have exercised all my life and weigh almost exactly what I weighed in college. I did smoke but quit about 40 years ago. My health, strength and energy are truly excellent. My family members believe that I am a ‘freak of nature’, not a normal human being. I believe that I am normal and the only difference is that I have decided to live my life differently.

   Recently I read an editorial titled “Old Europe-New Public Health”. Something in that editorial resonated with me, and caused me to wonder why, here in the United States, we are not having the ‘correct’ public discussion. Two of the points in article that I particularly noted were:

   · The Ottawa Charter (adopted by the World Health Organization) concluded that public health is directly related to the overall social setting and the environment, largely a responsibility of the state…and that the health policies of several European nations follow that concept.

   · The US holds the notion that responsibility for one’s health is with the individual, not the state…and therefore the Ottawa Charter has never really caught on in the US.

   This essay is not an endorsement of the Ottawa Charter or European health care systems. Surely, what is correct for Ottawa or Europe is probably not correct for the US. Nonetheless the fundamental principles of that charter provide a framework to discuss public policy alternatives.

   Several of the presidential candidates are proposing some form of government mandate to make sure all Americans have health insurance coverage. This strikes me as incomplete and avoids the ‘real’ debate. The problems we have with health insurance in this country are merely a symptom of much larger problems.

   We should be talking about health in America, not just about insurance. If we persist in avoiding the ‘real’ debate, truly significant reforms will never be explored.

   I am one of those Americans who believe the individual is (and should be) responsible for his/her personal health. I also believe our health care system is seriously distorted, needlessly over priced and many public health policies, regulations and external factors, contribute to these distortions.

   Because of the wide gulf between the haves and the have-nots in our society (that is another debate we are not having), I now believe (something I have resisted) we need some sort of universal health care system. However, ‘my’ system would be very different from any that I have heard proposed or discussed.

   Most of the ‘haves’ in the US are very nervous about a public funded and Government-run health care system. I am one of those. That said, I believe there is some ‘middle ground’ that would address both the legitimate concerns of the ‘haves’ and also the true needs of the ‘have-nots’.

   This essay presents some PBI’s…Partly Baked Ideas. These ideas will not be popular with many interests and with a lot of Americans. Some people will have to significantly alter their belief systems to adjust to ‘my’ healthcare system. These ideas require ’shared pain’. However, there is also much reward to be shared.

   The two fundamental operating principles of ‘my’ system are:

   · 1. Exercising good health practices is a personal responsibility of every individual and a requirement of participation in a publicly funded health care system, (more on that later).

   · 2. There is no ‘right’ or ‘entitlement’ to unlimited health care…paid for by somebody else.

   The system proposed would look similar to Medicare in the enrollment of participants, collection of premiums, and payment to providers. Enrollment is not mandatory, but it would be inclusive to all. The total cost of delivering healthcare services would be significantly lower, IF all the root causes of the present excessive costs are firmly addressed.

   The system would require health ‘premiums’ to be paid by individuals scaled on ability to pay, however, those premiums would be capped at a reasonable level. This would not be a scheme to ’soak the rich’.
   Everyone enrolled, would have ‘insurance’ that would get them into a hospital when needed and pay for the doctor visits and dental needs. Individual health care decisions would remain with the individual’s doctor, not a government official. It is government administered, not government run health care.

   This system would deliver healthcare services through a hybrid system of private and public providers. At the community level there would be public clinics for routine health matters, prenatal health care, treatments for non-life-threatening trauma, colds, flu, and fevers, regular checkups, vaccinations, etc., all with a focus on prevention and teaching individual accountability.

   These clinics should be staffed by nurse practitioners, well-trained medics and mental health counselors, and supervised by medical doctors. This service should be available to all, but is primarily intended too help the poor and take the burden off the hospital emergency room. A reasonable co-pay fee would be charged the amount scaled to total family income. Family/individual financial status would be predetermined in the system enrollment process and monitored thereafter.

   A key feature of this system is personal accountability. Enrollees will be accountable for their health lifestyles. Two years after launch of this system, people who remain obese, or still smoke or abuse drugs will not be eligible for publicly funded health care, for specified conditions reasonably attributable to their poor health/lifestyle choice. For those conditions, persons not in compliance, will have to pay for their health care outside of the publicly funded ’system’ until they come into compliance with weight norms and discontinue smoking or abuse of drugs.

   However, other changes are needed to the ‘public environment’.

   We must shut down the ‘war on drugs’ and treat drug abuse as a public health issue, not as a criminal matter. The money now being spent (ineffectively) on the drug war and incarceration should be shifted to health care and counseling and education.

   Tort lawsuits for medical malpractice should be substantially eliminated. Medical negligence would be a legal/medical determination made by a board of qualified persons. The effect would be to stabilize award payments to a standard, which makes the injured party whole and reasonably compensates for pain and suffering. Negligence would be restored to its original meaning…that is the failure to exercise the customary and usual due care expected from a competent medical practitioner…in the totality of the circumstances. Negligence should be a medical decision. This would rule out lawsuits for ‘unfortunate medical outcomes’ where no negligence has occurred. The current system is an unholy lottery.

   Our nation can be sympathetic to disastrous medical outcomes where no negligence has occurred. A system to compensate those who are truly medically devastated should be established, similar to the VICP…Vaccine Injury Compensation Program…a wise, though excessively bureaucratically administered program, set up by Congress in 1984

   We should also look at other policies that are counterproductive.

   The system would restore a free market, by eliminating policies that inhibit competition. For example this system should authorize and encourage the purchase of prescription drugs from offshore sources.

   Publicly funded medical procedures and drugs need to be medically necessary. This would exclude discretionary cosmetic surgery (as distinguished from severe burn or scarring cosmetic procedures), other discretionary procedures, Viagra and other similar non-medically necessary treatments.

   Mental health services must be included, subject to some reasonable (individually controllable) limitations.

   Clinical standards to define ‘Obesity’, a smoker, or a drug abuser need to be specified, along with methods to verify. Those clinics, mentioned earlier, would be the primary evaluation centers, for determining who is obese, who smokes, who abuses drugs .. etc., and provide the psychological and other assistance to help people change their behaviors…but every enrolled person needs to understand…it is their responsibility to make the change…or be accountable for the health and financial consequences.

   There should be some reasonable ‘exceptions’ based on true inability to personally control one’s health, e.g. mental impairment. However, these would be statistically a minority of individual situations.

   There will be many useful and constructive adjustments that can and should be made to these ideas. What is important is to open the dialog. It should be obvious that improving health through prevention, individual accountability and greater competition will rapidly drive down health costs.

   We need a health revolution and everyone needs to share the pain and the rewards of it. First we need dialog.

   Marty Adams

3. Quark on February 6th, 2008 11:39 am

   Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. I see references to other nations that have socialized medicine as a reason the U.S. should have it too. But I’m betting most of the people who buy into that have no idea what those systems are like. You really can’t make a reasoned comparison unless you know something about both things you are comparing.

   I’ve seen and experienced British healthcare. And I can tell you that I don’t want that standard of care for my children. Then again, I have a job. I have worked my entire life. I have insurance. I can afford to provide my children better than “affordable.” I don’t want “affordable” healthcare. “Affordable” clothing comes from the second hand shop. “Affordable” housing means the “projects.” The problem with “affordable” is that once you have it, nobody wants it. The only people it benefits are those who would rather sit around and do nothing than to get a job and work hard to improve themselves. (Please don’t sayI’m stereotyping. Yes, there are exceptions, but I have lived in that culture and know the truth. Yes, there really are mothers who tell their children they are sick and to cause trouble in school so they are diagnosed as ADHD. ADHD gets a check from SSI. I know these thngs because I have peers who still live that way. If you haven’t, you have no knowledge to base your assumption on. I do.)

   I started life dirt poor but I took advantage of the opportunities available to me and I worked all my life to have something better. I’m not poor anymore. I don’t have to live that way. I can give my children better. I don’t want “affordable” healthcare for them. Sure, healthcare in the U.S. is expensive. Any BMW costs more than a Sentra and nobody complains about that! You get what you pay for. If you go into “ICU” in Britain, your family starts making funeral arrangements. In the U.S., we call that the terminal ward, not the Intensive Care Unit. I’ve sat in a hospital room in Belgium and identified 3 different types of roaches crawling around in the room. I want good healthcare, not “affordable” health care. If you google Canadian private healthcare, you will find that it is thriving in Canada despite the fact that it is illegal! (Yes, it is a crime to pay for better healthcare in Canada. You really want socialism?) Ask yourself, if the Canadian system is so great, why do so many Canadians want the option for private care? Why is the elected government ignoring the private hospitals that are starting up (and making a profit)?

   If you think you can have both “affordable” and “good,” you are just being naïve and ignoring the evidence around you.

4. NinaK on February 6th, 2008 2:27 pm

   Please see below. Perhaps this is why she is unclear on her health care?? Perhaps this is why Hillary is so vague about her claim of having 35 years experience??? Perhaps this is why she is so vague in telling us how she is a going to get things done? Perhaps this is why she won’t release her records while in the White House? From the information below, it is quite evident Hillary has not accomplished anything substantive.
   ‘Senator Clinton has based her campaign on an erroneous claim to greater legislative and administrative experience. Former President Clinton talks up her role in his administration on the campaign trail but pointedly refuses to release any documents that would provide greater details on her actual activities there. It is broadly understood that Hillary spearheaded the response team that staved off Republican attacks and spun the many scandals of the Clinton years. As to her Senate record, no one in the press has had the diligence to lay out her record for the public to assess.

   Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term (6yrs.), and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law, (20) twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years.
   These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress (www.thomas.loc.gov), but to save you trouble, I’ll post them here for you.

   1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
   2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
   3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
   4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
   5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
   6. Name post office after Jonn A. O’Shea.
   7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
   8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
   9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
   10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
   11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men’s Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
   12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
   13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
   14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
   15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty.

   Only five of Clinton’s bills are more substantive.

   16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
   17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
   18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
   19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
   20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system.

   There you have it, the facts straight from the Senate Record.

   Now, I would post those of Obama’s, but the list is too substantive, so I’ll mainly categorize. During the first (8) eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced

   233 regarding healthcare reform,
   125 on poverty and public assistance,
   112 crime fighting bills,
   97 economic bills,
   60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,
   21 ethics reform bills,
   15 gun control,
   6 veterans affairs and many others.

   His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427. These included:
   **the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (became law),
   **The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, (became law),
   **The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate,
   **The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, (became law),
   **The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, (In committee), and many more.

   In all since enter the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record for someone who supposedly has no record according to the spin meisters and mindless twits.

   I challenge Clinton supporters to name a single legislative accomplishment that demonstrates her supIn all since enter the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096. An impressive record for someone who supposedly has no record according to the spin meisters and mindless twits. I challenge Clinton supporters to name a single legislative accomplishment that demonstrates her superior experience.’”
   Posted by Mark, Feb 4, 2008

5. jacksmith on February 9th, 2008 2:21 am

   Bottom Line:

   Like all of you. I know that health care is the most critical, and important issue facing the American people. Now, and in the coming elections. And like the vast majority of the American people, I want HR 676 (Medicare For All) passed into law NOW! “Single payer, Tax Supported, Not For Profit, True Universal Health Care” free for all as a right. Like every other developed country in the world has. See: http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676.htm

   “HR 676:
   For church goers: less money to insur. companies and more to the church- lots more.
   Srs on Medicare: save way over $100/wk. Because no more medigap, long term care & dental insur. needed. No more drug bills.”

   But if we the American people fail to bring enough pressure on our current politicians to get HR 676 passed into law before the elections. We will have to identify, and replace all the politicians standing in the way of passage of HR 676. And, I think the best first place to start is with the politicians that blocked the bipartisan SCHIP bills for the kids. Passed by congress four times.

   But what about the President. It was Bush after all that blocked the bipartisan SCHIP bill passed by congress to assure more health coverage for Americas kids. So which of the presidential hopefuls do I think will be most supportive of implementing the demand of the majority of the American people to have HR 676 (Medicare For All) passed into law immediately!

   We have some very fine presidential candidates who would make good presidents. But none of the top Presidential candidates directly support HR 676, the only true Universal Health Care plan. So I am supporting Hillary Clinton. She is the only top candidate that has ever actually fought for universal health care before.

   I have enormous admiration, and respect for Hillary Clinton. She fought a pitched battle against overwhelming odds back in 1993. To prevent this disastrous health care crisis that is now devastating the American people, and America. She fought so hard for the American people that she risk almost completely destroying her husbands presidency. I haven’t forgotten her heroic effort. If any Presidential hopeful for universal health care deserves my support, it’s her.

   Also, if we the American people fail to bring enough pressure on our government to give us HR 676 which we all so desperately need NOW! Then we will need the most skilled politician we can get on our side to broker the best health care plan for the American people that we can get. Though it will be less than we need, and less than we deserve. The politician I think to best do this is Hillary Clinton. The Clinton’s are probably the most skilled politicians in American history.

   The insurance industry, and medical industry that has been ripping you off, and killing you has given Hillary Clinton so much money because they fear her. They have also given Barack Obama so much money because they fear Hillary Clinton. They think they can manipulate Barack Obama against the best interest of the American people better than they can manipulate Hillary Clinton. There is no race issue with Hillary Clinton. The Clinton’s are the poster family for how African Americans want white people to be towards African Americans.

   As always, African Americans are suffering, and dieing in this health care crisis at a much higher rate than any other group in America. The last time there was any significant drop in the African American death rate was when Bill Clinton was president.

   My fellow Americans, you are dieing needlessly at an astounding rate. In higher numbers than any other people in the developed world. Rich, and poor a like. Insured, and uninsured. Young, and old. Men, women, children, and babies. And we the American people must stop it. And fix it NOW! Keep Fighting!!! Never! give up hope. There are millions of lives at stake. Bless you all… You are doing great!

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